The EV manufacturing unicorn, Ola Electric has announced plans to enter international markets, starting with Nepal. The Bhavish Aggarwal-led company plans to enter LATAM (Latin America), ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the EU in the next phase, increasing the company’s presence in up to five international markets. 

The company inked an MoU with CG Motors in Nepal, partnering as a local distributor for its Ola scooters (S1 and S1 Pro) and to make it available from the next quarter.

Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Ola, said, “The global EV revolution so far has been limited to the West and to China. To truly take the EV revolution to a human scale, India will have to be the epicentre of change. Ola is committed to creating the EV paradigm for the rest of the world by building half of the vehicles for global needs in India. Our international expansion not only means that we will as a company be able to serve customers in these similar regions, but it is also testament to the fact that India will lead the EV revolution for the world.”

Valued at $5 billion, Ola Electric has recently unveiled an ambitious 4W project with the first public unveiling of a car. Ola Electric has been selected by the government under the ₹80,000-crore cell PLI scheme, receiving the maximum capacity of 20 GWh for its bid in March. In addition, it has also won the PLI for manufacturing EVs.

Offline stores

In the seven months after its e-scooter launch, Ola had sold 70,000 units despite the consumer’s backlash over late deliveries, low scooter range, and fire-related incidents. Last month, Ola reopened online booking evoking lukewarm response, forcing the EV unicorn to open offline stores. Earlier this week, the company said it has opened 20 experience stores and plans to add over 200 by March 2023. 

Also, Ola recently laid off 200 engineers as part of the internal restructuring, which is 10 per cent of the engineers employed at group level. According to Ola, this restructuring is done to “centralise operations, minimise redundancy, and build a strong lateral structure that strengthens relevant roles and functions.”

The mobility company has increased its focus on non-software engineering domains as it builds engineering and R&D capabilities across vehicle, cell , battery, manufacturing and automation, autonomous engineering streams and others.

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